It started with a squeak: Moonlight serenade helps lemurs pick mates of the right species

Lonely hearts columns testify that finding a partner can be hard enough, but at least most human beings can be fairly certain that when we do we have got one of the right species. Things aren’t so simple for all animals. Some Malagasy mouse lemurs are so similar that picking a mate of the right species, especially at night time in a tropical forest, might seem like a matter of pot luck. However, new research in BioMed Central’s journal BMC Biology has shown that our desperately cute distant cousins use vocalisations to pick up a partner of the right species.

Until recently, grey, golden brown, and Goodman’s mouse lemurs were all thought to be the same species. But genetic testing revealed that they are, in fact, three distinct, species so similar that they cannot be told apart by their appearance—so called cryptic species.

“A fundamental problem for cryptic species that live in the same area and habitat is the coordination of reproduction and discrimination between potential mates of the same species and remarkably similar individuals of other species” say Pia Braune and colleagues from the Institute of Zoology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover University.

Males of these nocturnal species use advertising calls to let females know that they are looking for love. The researchers recorded advertising calls from the three species and then played them back to grey mouse lemurs, noting what response, if any, they made. “Grey mouse lemurs reacted more to calls from other grey mouse lemurs than to those of either other species”, say the researchers. Furthermore, the grey mouse lemurs seemed to ignore the calls of golden brown mouse lemurs, which live in the same area and habitat to them, but show some interest in the calls of Goodman’s mouse lemur, which they would never normally meet. “The importance of vocalisation in attracting mates is well known for frogs and birds”, explain the authors, “but this is the first evidence for species-specific call divergence in the communication of cryptic primate species with overlapping ranges.”

The lemurs’ moonlight serenades help to ensure that individuals of one species don’t waste time trying to mate with those of another, which would produce either no offspring or infertile hybrids. Indeed, the possibility of grey and golden-brown mouse lemurs encountering each other might explain the difference in calls and responses, according to Braune: “our data support the evolutionary hypothesis that species cohesiveness has led to divergence in signalling and recognition to avoid costly hybridisation.”

Source: BioMed Central

Related stories:

Lemur's evolutionary history may shed light on our own
After swabbing the cheeks of more than 200 lemurs and related primates to collect their DNA, researchers at the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy (IGSP) and Duke Lemur Center now have a much clearer picture of their evolutionary family tree.
Paleontologists discover most primitive primate skeleton
The origins and earliest branches of primate evolution are clearer and more ancient by 10 million years than previous studies estimated, according to a study featured on the cover of the Jan. 23 print edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Study revises understanding of primate origins
A new study led by a University of Florida paleontologist reconstructs the base of our family tree and extends its roots 10 million years, a finding that sheds new light on the origin and earliest stages of primate evolution.
Different coat color may not mean different species for lemurs
Researchers have found that lemurs suspected to belong to different species because of their strikingly different coat colors, are not only genetically alike, but belong to the same species.
Google ventures into virtual reality with 'Lively'
(AP) -- In the latest expansion beyond its main mission of organizing the world's information, Internet search leader Google Inc. hopes to orchestrate more virtual socializing on the Web.
Primate's scent speaks volumes about who he is
Perhaps judging a man by his cologne isn't as superficial as it seems.Duke University researchers, using sophisticated machinery to analyze hundreds of chemical components in a ringtailed lemur's distinctive scent, have found that individual males are not only advertising their fitness for fatherhood, but also a bit about their family tree as well.
Predicting the risk of a common fungal infection after stem cell transplantation
In silico genetic analysis in mice has led to the discovery of a gene affecting susceptibility to a severe fungal infection in transplant recipients. In a study published June 20th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, investigators from Duke University Medical Center, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Roche Palo Alto, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and the National Jewish Medical and Research Center found that genetic variation within the plasminogen gene in mice and men affects susceptibility to a severe and life-threatening fungal infection.
Origins of the brain: Complex synapses drove brain evolution
One of the great scientific challenges is to understand the design principles and origins of the human brain. New research has shed light on the evolutionary origins of the brain and how it evolved into the remarkably complex structure found in humans.

News discussion:

General Science news